trolley dolly
- noun
- Offensive
- She worked as a trolley dolly for five years before changing careers.
Examples
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He made a joke about being mistaken for a trolley dolly during the flight.
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The trolley dolly smiled as she pushed the drinks cart down the aisle.
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The trolley dolly served drinks to all the passengers.
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I saw a trolley dolly during my flight to Paris.
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The trolley dolly moved down the aisle, offering refreshments to the passengers.
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As the flight took off, the trolley dolly greeted everyone with a smile and handed out snacks.
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During the flight, the trolley dolly explained the safety procedures while serving drinks.
Synonyms
A person who serves or helps people in a public place
A person who looks after passengers on an airplane and keeps them safe and comfortable
A woman who works on an airplane and looks after passengers
A person who serves and looks after passengers on a ship or plane
A woman who looks after passengers on an airplane
A woman who looks after passengers on a plane
A man who helps passengers on a plane and keeps them safe and comfortable
How Formal
Surface Forms
Morphology
trolley + dolly
Knowing 'trolley' (a small service cart) gives a strong cue that the phrase refers to a person associated with that cart, so learners might infer it names the person who serves from a trolley. However, 'dolly' is ambiguous or dialectal (not transparently 'attendant') and the term is an informal, culture-specific coinage, so the exact meaning 'flight attendant who serves food/drinks' is not fully predictable without exposure.
Etymology
Trolley dolly may come from the image of a woman pushing a drinks cart on a plane: trolley is the cart and dolly is like a small doll, a word people used for a neat, friendly woman. So the phrase became a casual name for a 'flight attendant' who 'serves food and drinks'.